Will shutdown impact grants? TN agencies for poor watch and wait

Oct. 10, 2013

Written by

Heidi Hall

The Tennessean

They’re talking about the federal government shutdown and, along with it, the flow of federal dollars that trickle down to fund milk for babies through Women, Infants and Children; education for preschoolers through Head Start; and houses for families through Section 8.

All of those programs’ grant cycles ensure they’ll keep going across the state at least until the end of the month. After that, it’s unclear who is going to get what — although it’s certain Americans who are struggling the most will be hit the hardest.

“How this might truly affect the most vulnerable, we don’t know yet,” said Marsha Edwards, CEO for the Martha O’Bryan Center, which serves 6,000 impoverished East Nashville residents each year. “If this doesn’t get resolved in the next three weeks, we’re going to see it.”

The shutdown is already prompting anxiety in families the center serves, Edwards said. That was apparent at the bus stop across from the Family Dollar along Shelby Avenue, where one woman carefully counted her change while bemoaning the lack of cooperation in Washington. FiDashus Brodie sat nearby, expecting her first child, a girl, any day and wondering whether the shutdown will stall the help she needs until she can go back to work.

“They are really making it hard for us,” Brodie said. “How am I supposed to get food? Pay my light bill?”

Many programs that help the poor are unaffected by the shutdown. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, will continue — although a decision unrelated to the shutdown is slicing those benefits for thousands of Tennessee families. The school lunch program is required to keep several months of expenses in reserve, said Metro Nashville Public Schools spokeswoman Meredith Libbey.

Cash welfare benefits are unaffected right now, said Tennessee Department of Human Services spokeswoman Devin Stone. The future is less sure.

“We are doing an ongoing analysis,” she wrote in an email. “Different programs, customers and partners may be affected in different ways at different points.”

People who live in public housing won’t lose their homes.

Head Start funding will depend on the agency by agency grant cycles, said Tennessee Head Start Association President Judy S. Graham, so parents should ask their local providers.

Edwards said the real impact could unfold gradually, but she thinks it’s on its way.

“The shutdown has the ability to have massive impact, but it trickles in,” she said.